Car-brake handle



No Model.)

A. B. COLLETT.

' CAR BRAKE HANDLE. o. 483,779.

I UNITED STATES PATENT OFFIcEQ AUSTIN B. COLLETT, OF LYNN, ASSIGNOR OF ONE-HALF TO DAVID F. KIMBALL, OF CHELSEA, MASSACHUSETTS.

CAR-BRAKE HANDLE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent N 0. 483,779, dated October 4, 1892.

Application filed March 24, 1892. Serial No. 426,217. (No model.)

To aJZZ whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, AUSTIN B. GOLLETT, of Lynn, in the county of Essex, State of Massachusetts, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Oar-Brakes, of which the following is a description sufficiently full, clear, and exact to enable any person skilled in the art or science to which said invention appertains to make and use the same, refer ence being had to the accompanying drawing, forming part of this specification, in which the figure is an elevation partly in section, showing my improved brake-handle in position, the handle and brake-rod being represented as broken oif.

Like letters of reference indicate corresponding parts in the drawing.

My invention relates to changeable brakehandles for street-cars, it being designed especially as an improvement on the device shown and described in Letters Patent of the United States numbered 460,113, dated September 29, 1891, granted to Herbert E. Gollett for an improvement in ca-nbrakes.

It is necessary in operating street car brakes where the rod is rotated by hand to frequently change the relative position of the handle on the rod to bring it into the proper position for the brakemen to set the brakes, as the load on the car varies. This is ordinarily accomplished by unshipping the handle or by the use of What is known as the ratchethandle. When such handles are used and the brake is released, after the rod stops rotating the handle will continue to move backward, the tension of the click on the ratchet not being sufficient to prevent this. The assumed position of the handle is thus lost and it has to be again adjusted or the handle pumped or reciprocated in order to obtain the required power on the rod with the least exertion. The click quickly becomes worn or broken by such manipulation. Many of these disadvantages were overcome by the clutch mechanism shown in the Letters Patent above referred to; but in mounting such mechanism it was necessary to reduce the upper end of the brakerod to form a spindle for the free clutch member This greatly weakened the rod, which from the constant strain of setting the brake was liable to crystallize and break at this point. Moreover, such device rendered it essential thateach rod be especially fitted to receive the handle. My pres ent improvement overcomes theseobjections, the handles being interchangeable and all parts of the clutch mechanism being oontained therein, it being necessary only to screw-thread the brake-rod to detachably secure one clutch member thereto.

In the drawing, Arepresents the handle, and B the brake-rod. The upper end of the rod is exteriorly screw-threaded at b for a determined distance. The butt of the handle is chambered longitudinally at (Z. In the bottom of the chamber (1 one member f of a clutch mechanism 0 is disposed and secured by a pin g. The fixed member 71. of the clutch is elongated and is interiorly tapped and screw-threaded to receive the threaded end 17 of the rod 13. The walls of the opening thus formed adjacent its mouthare left smooth ate to engage the face of the rod below its threads I) and center the clutch while mounting the same. The mouth of the handle-chamber d is interiorly screw-threaded to receive an exteriorly-threaded not or screw-plug 70, which is loose on the rod 13. A stifi coiled spring m is interposed around the rod between said nut and the lower end of the fixed member h. Said spring acts expansively to force the handle downward over the rod and engage the clutch members.

The teeth of the members f 7b are very deep and approximately square, their rear edges only being chamfered slightly at p to enable the handle to ride without entirely disengag ing said teeth. This peculiar formation atfords an enlarged bearing surface in the clutch to support the pressure from the handle, and, furthermore, effectually prevents the relative position of the handle being changed from its impetus when the rod has stopped rotating in releasing the brake. The length of the teeth also renders the device operative without the spring m, as the weight of the handle will engage the clutch member suificiently for ordinary purposes; but I prefer to employ the spring, it rendering such engagement quicker and more positive after the members are separated in adjusting the position of the handle.

For setting the brake the handle is manipulated in the ordinary manner, the clutch looking it to the rod. By reciprocating the handle the member f Will ride on its companion, elevating the handle and compressing the spring m, whereby the relative position of the handle may be quickly adjusted. To remove the handle, a threaded opening. 1" is provided in the Wall of the handle-chamberd. Into this a set-screw may be turned, which will project into an indentationtin the fixed member h. The handle being turned backward, the

screw will cause the member h to turn off the threads of the rod, disconnecting the whole mechanism therefrom, 'or said indentation i may be elongated into a peripheral grooveon the member h, as it might be inconvenient to register the openingr and indentation. Such groove, with the screw, Wouldhold the handle from riding and the clutch-teeth from-disengaging, the member h beingiturned ofI" byits companion.

Having thus explained my invention, What I claim is-- 1. In a car-brake,a-brake-rod having its upper end screw threaded, in combination with a-chambered handle, a clutch member secured in said chamber, and a companion member turned onto said rod, substantially as described.

2. In a oar-brake, a brake-rod, in combination with aclutch member detachably secured 'tation in said rod clutch member, substantially as and for the purpose set forth.

4. In a car-brake, the handle:A, chambered at d and interiorly threaded atitsmouth, in combination with the clutch member f, se-

cured in said chamber, the rod B, threaded at b, the clutch member 72, interiorlythreaded to receive said rod and having the smooth zportioni, the screw-plug 70 in the mouth of said chamber, and the spring-m between said plug and rod clutch member, all being arranged to operate substantially as described.

AUSTIN B. OOIJLETT;

Witnesses:

o. M; SHAW, K. DURFEE, 

